1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a disk transferring device transferring disks delivered one by one to a predetermined position and discharging the disks and a disk dispensing device separating disks in bulk one by one and then transferring each disk to a predetermined position and discharging the disk. In detail, the present disclosure relates to a disk transferring device and disk dispensing device to be suitably used when disks of a plurality of types with at least different outer diameters are processed.
Note that a “disk” for use in the specification include a coin as a currency; a token money such as a medal, token, or the like for game machines; and those similar to the above.
2. Background Information
Conventionally, various types of disk transferring devices using a belt, a chain, a screw, or others have been suggested.
For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 each disclose a device using a belt. A disk-shaped medium lifting device is configured to include a lifting belt lifting up a disk-shaped medium and a depression belt depressing the disk-shaped medium to be lifted up to this lifting belt, the disk-shaped medium being lifted up as being interposed between the lifting belt and the depression belt. The lifting belt is disposed as being put around paired pulleys arranged on upper and lower sides, and the depression belt is disposed as being put around other paired pulleys arranged on upper and lower sides.
A coin lift of Patent Document 2 is a device in which projected receiving seats are provided a predetermined space apart from each other along a belt traveling direction on a belt surface of an endless belt circulating around both of a driving pulley and a passive pulley and coins are received by the projected receiving seats for lifting.
Also, Patent Document 3 discloses a device using a chain. Coin transferring means is configured of a chain that is arranged above a support surface so as to extend in a coin transferring direction and includes pins for delivering coins provided at predetermined spaces.
Furthermore, Patent Document 4 discloses a coin lifting device using a screw. In the coin lifting device of Patent Document 4, a screw bar is mounted on a vertical rotating shaft and formed as a screw with a pitch exceeding the diameter of a coin around the shaft as an axis line. With the rotation of the screw bar, respective parts for every pitch are positioned so as to successively penetrate at a right angle through an opposite space of respective guides. The respective parts positioned at the penetrating points ascend with the rotation of the screw bar, thereby pushing up the coin to vertically shift the coin upward.
These conventional disk transferring devices have the following problems.
In a belt-type disk transferring device as disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, it is disadvantageously difficult to increase a transfer distance. That is, to increase the transfer distance, the number of maximum disks to be mounted on the belt is increased, and the load on the belt is also increased accordingly. Since the motive power is transmitted to the belt by a friction force from the pulleys, as the load on the belt is large, a slip occurs between the pulleys and the belt, and therefore there is a limitation to extend the belt length. Although a slip can be suppressed if synchronous belt is used, cost is increased, and therefore such use cannot be easily adopted.
Also when the rotation speed of the pulleys are increased, a slip occurs between the pulleys and the belt, thereby disadvantageously being unable to sufficiently increase the rotation speed and being unable to obtain a desired transfer speed.
Furthermore, when a belt is used, a selection is made from among ready-made belts with a predetermined length, and therefore the belt length can be set only stepwise. This means that the transfer distance cannot be freely set. To use one with a desired belt length, a specially-made one has to be used and, in this case, cost is increased. Therefore, it is disadvantageously difficult to freely set a transfer distance while suppressing cost.
In a chain-type disk transferring device as disclosed in Patent Document 3, since the structure is complex, it is disadvantageously difficult to decrease the size of the chain, thereby increasing the size of the entire device.
In the case of a screw type as disclosed in Patent Document 4, since disks are transferred as being slid over the screw, heat and abrasion occur in association with friction, thereby disadvantageously decreasing durability.
Also, in the case of a screw type, a twist tends to occur as the rotating shaft is longer, thereby making it impossible to normally transfer disks. This twist of the rotating shaft is increased as the rotating shaft length is longer. Therefore, the rotating shaft length cannot be sufficiently made long, thereby disadvantageously being unable to obtain a desired transfer distance. Furthermore, when the device is used in a twisted state for a long period of time, the device may be broken, and durability is decreased after all.
If a metal material with high stiffness is adopted for the rotating shaft and the screw to enhance mechanical strength, the twist of the rotating shaft can be suppressed, allowing the transfer distance to be easily extended and durability to be improved. However, this involves an increase in cost and weight, and therefore cannot be easily adopted.
There is a plurality of types of coins with different outer diameters or thicknesses. As for coin processing devices, various so-called free-size-support devices capable of handling these plurality of types (that is, plurality of denominations) of coins have been conventionally suggested. For example, regarding a coin delivering device separating coins in bulk one by one and delivering the coins, a coin hopper device disclosed in Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 6.
In the device disclosed in Patent Document 5 and Patent Document 6, on an upper surface of a rotary disk tilted upward, a circular support rack protruding to the center of the rotary disk is arranged. Also, coin stoppers are radially arranged from the support rack, and coins pushed by the coin stoppers as being supported by the support rack are guided and delivered in a peripheral direction of the rotary disk by coin receiving means arranged at a predetermined position. Note that Patent Document 7 discloses an improved version of the coin hopper device of Patent Document 6.
On the other hand, in a money changer, a vending machine, a game machine, or the like, in some cases, a coin delivered from a coin delivering device is transferred to a predetermined position. For example, Patent Document 8 discloses a coin delivering device having a coin guide path called an escalator. Also, Patent Document 9 discloses a coin lifting device using a screw, and the coin lifting device also supports a plurality of denominations.
However, in the device disclosed in Patent Document 8, the coins in the escalator are delivered as a lower coin among the coins in an aligned state pushes an upper coin, and therefore the device cannot support denominations with different outer diameters. That is, the inside dimension of a coin path formed in the escalator has to fit the dimension of the denomination to be transferred, and the range of fitting coin outer diameters is small. For example, even if coins with an outer diameter smaller than the inner dimension of the coin path are tried to be transferred, these coins cannot be neatly aligned in the escalator and are in a zigzag state, thereby increasing frictional resistance at the time of transfer. Therefore, stable coin transfer and discharge is difficult. Moreover, if coins even with the same outer diameter but with different thicknesses are mixed together, since the thickness of the coin path is set correspondingly to coins with a maximum thickness, a range of movement in a thickness direction is large for thin coins, and a lower end of an upper-side coin cannot be pushed up by an upper end of a lower-side coin, resulting in stacking of the upper end and the lower end and causing the coins to become unmovable in the coin path to cause coin clogging.
Furthermore, in the device disclosed in Patent Document 8, if no coin is present in the hopper and the escalator, coin transfer cannot be performed, and therefore coins may be left in the hopper and the escalator. To remove the left coins, for example, a cover plate configuring the escalator has to be removed to take out the coins from inside. A technique for solving this problem has been conventionally suggested. For example, in a coin delivering device disclosed in Patent Document 10, an open/close gate is proved on a side wall of a coin path, and coins left in a hopper and an escalator are discharged via the gate in an open state to a collection opening.
In the improved device of Patent Document 10, since the coins left in the escalator is discharged to the collection opening, the coins thrown to the hopper cannot be all transferred to a predetermined position. In other words, to transfer a predetermined number of coins to a predetermined position, extra coins are required to be thrown to the hopper in consideration of the number of coins left (that is, the number of coins to be discharged). Moreover, a collecting device for collecting left coins is also required, and therefore a collection opening is provided, thereby disadvantageously increasing the size of the device.
In a device disclosed in Patent Document 9, although the device can easily support denominations with different outer diameters or thicknesses, as the outer diameter of the coin is larger, the peripheral surface of the coin tends to be disengaged more from the screw surface edge of the screw. In the case of a large-diameter coin, the coin is caught between the screw and the guide path, thereby causing so-called biting. Therefore, realistically, the screw has to be replaced according to the coin outer diameter, and the supportable outer diameter range is disadvantageously insufficient. Moreover, since the screw causes coins to slide, the screw tends to abrade, thereby disadvantageously degrading durability.
Therefore, a novel free-size-support coin transferring device with a wide range of outer diameters or thicknesses of coins to be supported and capable of transferring various denominations of coins has been desired. If this novel coin transferring device is achieved, for example, by combining this device with the coin delivering device of Patent Document 2, a free-size-support coin delivering device can also be achieved.
When the above-described novel coin delivering device is used for transfer vertically upward, in the coin hopper device of Patent Document 6, coins are delivered from the rotary disk upward, and therefore the traveling direction of coins is required to be changed from diagonally upward to vertically upward. Moreover, for supporting size-free, the traveling direction is desired to be changed for coins of a plurality of types with different outer diameters or thicknesses. However, a structure for achieving the functions described above has not been present so far.